Battlefield 3 Dev Reveals Current Battlerecorder is “Useless Junk”

In the latest Battlefield 3 community podcast, Don’t Revive Me Bro was lucky enough to feature special guest, Alan Kertz, Senior Gameplay Designer at DICE. Speaking of many subjects, Kertz had some very interesting things to say regarding the much sought-after and highly anticipated Battlerecorder.

Part way through the podcast, Kertz was asked what the one thing he would include in a patch if he had unlimited time and resources to get it done is. Surprisingly, he answered, “a Battlerecorder.”

Paraphrasing, Kertz stated that “there is not one person at DICE that does not want a Battlerecorder.” He added that it’s tough for developers to have a community that all dearly want a Battlerecorder when they, themselves, want it as well but simply cannot implement it, at the moment, due to technical reasons.

Kertz revealed, much like we reported earlier, that a Battlerecorder does exist within DICE to some capacity. According to Kertz, DICE does have a simple, basic recorder that they have used to create trailers, much like the latest Close Quarters time-lapse trailer. The issue, however, is that it is currently not usable and not presentable to the general public. In fact, Kertz admitted that the current Battlerecorder is “useless junk” and it is simply not feasible to release it to the public yet.

On a side note, Dinosaurs will be in the next patch, according to Kertz…

Uhhh… so when are we going to hear about things that actually matter? Battlerecorder would be nice, but I’d much rather seen tangible implementations that will affect gameplay, not boost Youtube hits.

RoadTripToJalalabad

BattleRecorder is more than just for cool videos. It will provide proof when trying to identify cheaters. To prevent tampering, the recorder dump files on the server can be made read-only and only write-able by the server application or system admin with root (or equivalent) access.

DICE, you should post your technical challenges re: battlerecorder in more detail on your blog. Developers in your fan base might have some ideas that could help. I would imagine that a BF3 BattleRecorder reader would either

– load the dump file locally and “serve” it with a facade local server, which could be a server-code security risk, or
– read the dump file on-the-fly from a remote server, which may be too cumbersome or take too much server capacity.

Or is the issue related to data capturing on the server-side, which receives player data in large asynch chunks after clients did the hit-detection, etc.?

Nate

I want a recorder to showcase some of the complete bullshit i run into in a typical play of the game LOL…. im hoping (really hoping ik it wont happen lol) ms and sony will implement local recording in their next consoles.

Jemapelleethan

any word on xbox patch?

Cilliangreene

yeah i watched it back, they wont announce anything.

Jemapelleethan

This is getting ridiculous.

http://twitter.com/redd_dragons Chris

They are as in the dark as we are

Xander_B312

This is stupid as fuck.

Bing

so i guess they just suck at making games they have technical issues with everything they do

asgaro

Bit of an exaggeration, dont you think?
Their Frostbite game engine is state of the art tech, and has been built in-house…

Tludt888

As opposed to what? Out-of-house? It’s EA/DICE for god’s sake, it’s not like they had to make an engine with scotch tape and popsicle sticks… They’ve got the money to finance an engine, so it’s not like they’re downtrodden.

The game engine, while adequate and great for what it is, isn’t what I’d call “state of the art”. Or if it is, I’d be seriously disappointed. Several things in Frostbite 2, or rather, DICE’s presentation of Frostbite 2 are just idiotic and continuations of the previous engine’s faults.

They do have problems with everything they do… and not just small ones, resounding, show stopping ones that span multiple consoles. Just look at the list of problems outlined on MP1st, and that’s just reporting the news!

Ohwell

I’ve been playing bf3 since day one and while many of the problems r annoying at times the game itself is amazing. I’d say it’s the best mp game available right now (an opinion I know many share). So even tho the game has problems it’s still a very ambitious undertaking. I think their biggest mistake was not giving themselves an extra 6 months to truley tweak the game. They could have made bf legendary had they released a bug free version Of what they already have but too many people will always associate it with being buggy and unbalanced to consider it one of the greatest mp games of all time.

Tludt888

Right, which is why it’s so unfortunate that DICE didn’t as you say… give themselves a bit more time to get rid of the more blatant bugs.

An0n0musx

Even though they didn’t give themselves the extra time to release a bug-free game… they have had plenty of time AFTER release (5 months) to iron out these issues, and they have still not yet done that. I still enjoy the game alot, and play pretty much on a daily bassis but some of the bugs and glitches do get pretty annoying at times. This patch was supposed to fix everything, and thats why it took so long (according to them) and it still didn’t even fix the things it was supposed to (not to mention all the new bugs that it broght with the new patch)

Ryanaluz

Lots of other developers have just as much resources as DICE, yet Frostbite 2 absolutely stands out as one of the most impressive engines around. Do you know what an engine does? The game’s problems have nothing to do with the engine EXCEPT that the engine is brand new. The physics, the graphics, the sound, the animation, and the sheer scope that the engine is able to provide is remarkable. It’s completely fine if you have problems with the game, but the engine is impressive.

Tludt888

Hence why I’ve made it clear that I’m referring to “DICE’s presentation of Frostbite 2”. The post you replied to contains that clarification.

games have bugs and problems MW3 had a sh*t ton (and still does) and its using an old engine………..i think that speaks for what infinity ward is now.

Tludt888

Every game has problems and bugs, MW3 has/had more problems than bugs. BF3 has massive amounts of both unfortunately. Which leads to the assumption that it’s not an everyday occurrence, but something at fault with DICE.

http://twitter.com/Omega8Trigun Chris Stacy

If what I’m understanding your interpretation of “problems” is correctly, that being imbalances in weapons and such, then holy fuck what game are you playing? MW3 has like 300x the “problems” BF3 has. Not to mention most of said problems stay in the game year after year.

Tludt888

Like I said, BF3 has massive amounts of both… not -just- problems. I never said MW3 was perfect, at all.

My point, however, was that DICE’s execution of Frostbite 2 itself has many problems inherent to the engine, in addition to balance issues, weapon issues, and bugs.

MW3 hasn’t had menu issues, green flickering, VOIP issues, spawning atop people, etc. The list of blatant bugs that have been present since Alpha goes on and on. Which, like I stated previously, leads to the assumption that DICE is at fault for having so many blatant bugs in the game. Rather than a few here and there that are hard to replicate and maybe another one that gets a lot of press but gets fixed pronto.

It’s almost like they didn’t playtest anything, and we’re sitting here with a game that’s below what I’ve come to know as a pretty high standard from DICE. I don’t normally jump on idiotic interweb bandwagons, but the “Betafield 3” moniker is pretty apt if one just looks at the game’s glaring faults.

Not only that, but IW is fixing the bugs/problems of MW3 incrementally, rather than waiting five months to put out a patch. Furthermore, the bugs/balance issues actually -get- fixed! With all of the reviews of 1.04 coming in, it’s apparent that DICE is really ineffective at actually fixing things and even implementing changes to suit the game that they created.

Nate

Heres to respawn!

Honey Badger

Then why don’t you just make your own game?

http://www.facebook.com/people/Peachy-Pye/100000726982207 Peachy Pye

Dinosaurs? It’s April and they’re fools if they’re serious. I can think of 1000 things I’d rather see. Fuk the nerds, they can go shoot zombies or zap folks with Pikachu.

QwietStorm

…

Bennie_Hair

It’s a joke, I listened to the podcast. He even said it would be taken out of context. good one mp1st

Nate

Speaking of nerds….

http://www.nickartwork.com/ Loner

So nerds shoot zombies and zap folks with pikachus.. I guess I was wrong about nerds all along.

“In fact, Kertz admitted that the current Battlerecorder is “useless junk”” just like BF3 😀

Lukas

WHAT R U SERIOUS!!

Who the hell cares about a stupid battlerecorder? We want the game fixed. The fact that he didnt answer with “Fix the game” proves just how little they care. The more they speak & release patches breaking working features & not fixing issues that have been there since day 1, the more they look like complete & utter tools!!

http://twitter.com/Punkster_NY Punkster_NY

wow this game really means a lot to you. lol

Tamim Dehaibi

I don’t know if you listen to the whole podcast just like i did, but i can tell you that most of the question that were asked, he was unable to answer to them because it is not his role to announce thing should not been announce or announcing thing that they only talk a little bit in there office.

Seth_Shadow

I care. now stop being a whiney bitch and play the game.

Asd

The game is already fixed, stupid fuck.

http://twitter.com/_Primee _Primee

It’s far from being fixed.

No_Nickname

Well PC clans have nothing that they can use to catch hackers, duh. BR would make it so much easier

http://www.facebook.com/tyler.johnson.900 Tyler Johnson

i bet your still complaining arent you?

http://www.facebook.com/tls2323 DongJu Lee

O RLY?

Brezb

So is the piece of shit patch they just put in.. So it seems that it would fit good.

Usuckasssucker

bf3 Maker is a son of a bitsch when bfbc2 comes out he didnt done it and make his work well now he sell more Video games with Bf3 and he got money now then he make his work sh!t self the xbox patch didnt comes out first february then march? is april u bitshes nobody care about a stupid battlerecorder

Maybe they can reveal that the Xbox 360 patch is useless junk instead of keeping us all in the dark?

Darkfenix123

i dont mind the bugs, i know dice will get it fixed, so kids need to stop complaining, also, im really hoping for a dino mode or even anything tht switches out the serious feel for something super fun and enjoyable 😀

http://twitter.com/fpshooterBAE Benjamin Elliott

For everyone complaining of bugs, DICE will fix them, their post launch support is always much better than most companies. So the game will be ironed out in due time, people need to relax.

On a side note, Dinosaur mode! AWWWWW YEAHHH!!

clembo

patch please, that is all

Lolmanm

What part of this don’t you get?
On a side note, Dinosaurs will be in the next patch, according to Kertz…

Leave your thoughts in the comment below and happy April Fool’s Day!
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Ryanaluz

I know it’s a minor difference, but in the podcast he said “unusable”, not “useless”. Pretty glaring error though for “journalists”.

Im not exactly sure what isnt fixed about BF3 , i play the game perfectly fine if you ask me. I can shoot, kill blow stuff up and have a good time. If you cant do that, then maybe its not your kind of game?